This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power.

Friday, May 22, 2009

First Photos of S-400 in China.

Here is a background information for a public released Jane's entry.

Looking at joint projects such as the S-300/400 family of SAM, it has became apparent that days of hardware fire-sell to the PLA had been long gone; increasingly, as demonstrated by the many joint defense projects that China is a partner with financial and technology contributions.

http://www.janes.com/extracts/extract/jsws/jsws9067.html

HQ-19 (S-400) (China)

SectionDefensive weapons

Appearing inJane's Strategic Weapon Systems

Publication dateDec 23, 2008

DescriptionIt is now believed that the Russian S-400 Triumf (Chinese designator HQ-19) surface-to-air missile system was a joint development programme with China. The system uses the same sensors, battle management and launch vehicles as the Russian S-300 (SA-10/-20 'Grumble') and Chinese HQ-9/-15. The S-400 introduces three new missiles, the 9M96, 9M96/2 and the 40N6, which can be fitted in new canisters replacing all or some of the S-300 missile canisters on the TEL. It is believed that a new TEL vehicle has been developed specifically to carry the S-400 missiles, and that this is a wheeled vehicle carrying six to eight missiles. The 9M96 missile has a length of 4.75 m, a body diameter of 0.24 m, a launch weight of 333 kg, and a 24 kg HE warhead. Guidance is inertial with command updates and an active radar terminal seeker. The missile has a two-stage solid propellant motor system, with a maximum range of 40 km. The second stage has lateral thrust motors to improve manoeuvrability in the terminal phase, similar to the US PAC-3 design. It can intercept targets from 5 m up to 20 km altitude. The 9M96/2 missile has a length of 5.65 m, a body diameter of 0.24 m, and a launch weight of 420 kg. The two missiles share the same separating second stage, but have different boost motors. The 9M96/2 missile has a maximum range of 120 km, and can intercept targets from 5 m up to 30 km altitude. The 40N6 version